Volunteerism and Protest Emerging from Trauma: Civic Engagement Among Urban Youth

• In Event: 2-115 - Youth Civic Engagement Across Cultural, Social, and Political Contexts

Integrative Statement

Civic engagement refers generally to taking an active role in citizenship through behaviors indicating an interest in the welfare of others in one’s community as well as broader society (Flanagan et al., 1998; Lenzi et al., 2014). Civic engagement can involve volunteering with social or health service agencies, environmental action organizations, and religious groups as well as participation in political and social protests and related organized movements. Adolescent civic engagement has long been part of the foundation for healthy identity (Erikson, 1963) and has been linked to better psychosocial adjustment (Lerner et al., 2005). Indeed, a large literature documents the positive precursors and consequences of adolescent civic engagement. Yet relatively less attention has been given to the extent to which experiences with trauma and violence might motivate civic engagement. The role of trauma and violence in the development of psychopathology and problem behavior already is well-known (Boxer & Sloan-Power, 2013). The present study considers whether those adverse experiences also motivate prosocial civic behavior and constructive social-political protest.
We interviewed a cohort of adolescents (N=200; 56% female, 90% nonwhite) enrolled in the public school district of a medium-sized northeastern US city. Participants were first interviewed during the fall and winter of their 10th grade year (mean age = 15 years), and again during the same time period of their 11th grade year. Participants were drawn from five different schools (one regular comprehensive public high school; one public magnet high school for high-achieving students; and three public charter high schools). Parents/guardians provided informed consent and adolescents provided assent to take part in the assessments. As part of a larger survey battery at each time point, adolescents responded to measures of civic engagement (volunteerism: time 1 α=.72, time 2 α=.63; protest: time 1 α=.66, time 2 α=.64; Keeter et al., 2002), exposure to violence and victimization (time 1 α=.86, time 2 α=.87; Lefkowitz et al., 1977; Richters & Martinez, 1993), post-traumatic stress symptoms (time 1 α=.88, time 2 α=.89; Pynoos et al., 1987), and post-traumatic growth (time 1 α=.94, time 2 α=.94; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996).
Volunteerism and protest showed very high continuity over one year (p < .001), and were significantly positively correlated at both time points (p < .001). Findings suggest an interesting pattern of relations among indicators of civic engagement, experiences with violence and victimization, and post-traumatic stress and growth reactions. Both volunteerism and protest were linked to violence exposure at time 1 (p < .05), but were differentially related to post-traumatic reactions. Volunteerism was associated with increased post-traumatic growth at both time points (p < .05) whereas protest was associated with post-traumatic stress at both time points (p < .05). Interestingly, results from OLS regression models controlling autocorrelation in civic engagement indicators show that lower levels of post-traumatic growth at time 1 predict increased protest by time 2. Additional analyses will incorporate data from an ongoing third wave of surveying (12th grade) to examine mediational models of how trauma reactions impact the development of civic engagement over time.

Authors

• Paul Boxer, Rutgers University
  Presenting Author

• Eric Dubow, Bowling Green State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• L Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Irving, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author